There's a lot going on in The Crimson Rivers -- issues of identity, creepy academics, dead bodies, mountain climbing, desecrated graves, blind nuns and two French detectives. And a partridge in a pear tree.

This somewhat over-complicated French thriller stars Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel as the detectives. The Crimson Rivers is a bit outside what's generally on offer from French filmmakers, and to North American eyes there is not much new going on here. Nonetheless, Reno and Cassel make it worth watching.

Brash young cop

As Pierre Niemans, Reno plays an experienced detective who must travel to a university town in the Alps to investigate a murder.

At the same time, a few hundred kilometres away, a brash young cop called Max (Vincent Cassel) is looking into an odd case in Sarzac, where a child's grave has been violated.

The story flashes back and forth between these two men and these two investigations, slowly bringing the two together. Eventually, in an almost father-son pairing, the detectives discover that something stinks in the town of Guernon, where the university is located. Up there in the Alps, the isolated school is operated like a huge, creepy family -- the professors' children marry each other, succeed their parents in teaching posts, and so forth.

There appears to be a serial killer on the loose within the university. Reno's character is offered clues from the killer, and is carefully led to each body. In one memorable scene, he goes mountain climbing with one of the students (Nadia Fares), looking for clues in ice crevasses. The Crimson Rivers doesn't lack for spooky visuals.

It doesn't lack for car chases, plot twists, red herrings or fight scenes, either, but no amount of loose ends or fancy footwork can really keep a viewer from guessing whodunnit.

Dark and broody

On the other hand, audiences familiar with the dark and broody Reno from such films as La Femme Nikita, Mission Impossible or Ronin know that his capacity to turn dross into gold on the big screen is almost always worth witnessing.

The Crimson Rivers is based on the best-selling novel by Jean-Christophe Grange.

The film is in French with English subtitles.

(This film is rated AA)

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